Many dialling telepaths to ‘talk’ to missing, dead pets

Heartbroken owners seek esoteric help to understand what their dogs’ and cats’ last wishes are, and whether they are coming back to life in another form

Some animal lovers in Bengaluru are hiring telepaths to find missing pets and strays.

The telepaths call themselves ‘animal communicators’ and claim to talk to dogs, cats and birds using their thoughts, energy, and intuition, and do it remotely in more than a majority of cases. The ‘communicators’ charge Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,100 a session, which can last up to 90 minutes.

Evidence on telepathy is inconclusive and it is often dubbed a pseudoscience.

Distress situations

Har Asees Vijai and her husband Ashwin have used ‘animal communication’ to speak to their terminally-ill cat, Oggy, and find stray cats. This happened before the pandemic.

“I did not want to doubt any practice that could make Oggy feel better, so I contacted a healer. I saw tremendous improvement. Then I learned the healer was also a communicator. Through him, Oggy told us her journey was coming to an end and that we should accept it,” says the Old Madras Road resident.

Meena Lakshmi, who feeds 45 dogs in Bellandur, had a different experience. When her family’s frantic search to find a street dog bore no result, she dialled a communicator on the suggestion of animal lovers on social media. She followed his leads but it did not yield results. “But one day, the dog returned on her own,” the technical architect recalls. This was prior to the Covid outbreak.

“I am still sceptical about telepathy but when you love dogs, you do crazy things. I wanted a God-like external force to get my streetie back, and tell me she was healthy and eating (which the communicator kept me posted about),” she says.

Husein Harniswalaa is an ‘energy healer’ from Gurugram, and ‘animal communication’ is part of his work. He receives three to four cases of lost or stolen pets from Bengaluru every month. “We have been able to locate them a majority of times. Sometimes, this can take a couple of days to even weeks. It depends a lot on the faith and perseverance of the pet parents,” he claims.

When pets go missing, there are “meanings” to be understood, says Nilu Kulkarni, full-time ‘animal communication’ practitioner from Bengaluru. Maybe the animal doesn’t like the current home and owner or it wants its human parents to quit a job or a relationship they are not happy in. “Out of 100, 20 pets don’t want to return,” she says.

Feelings and wishes

“Animal communication is not about medical diagnosis. In fact, I always ask pet parents to visit a vet first,” says Chandni Jumani, an ‘interspecies communicator’ from Pune. She works at a product company. A family from Bengaluru approached her recently to ask about their pet dog who ‘dropped her physical body’. They wanted to know if she would come back “in another form”.

Kanchan Sharma is a media professional from Mumbai and acts as a ‘medium’ between animals and humans when cases come her way. Clients mostly want to know if their pets are happy and healthy, and seek guidance on how to ease their suffering.

“Last month, I got a case of a senior dog from Bengaluru. He was diagnosed with cancer and his health was deteriorating. He ‘told’ me he would like to go home rather than take further treatment in hospital as he was aware his journey was coming to an end. He passed away an hour after reaching home,” she says.

Changing animal behaviour often carries a message for humans, they claim.

Nilu cites a case: “A pet dog started barking at a domestic worker, and attacked her one day. I ‘spoke’ to the dog and his owners. We found that the domestic worker’s husband would beat her often and the dog was barking at her to bring attention to the abuse she was facing.”

In the past, pets have ‘revealed’ to Chandni that their house was cluttered, their human parents have stopped giving them the peanut butter they relished, and that they don’t enjoy being groomed with hard-bristle brushes.

Animal rescuers in cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai also seek help for strays, they point out.

‘Clients learn telepathy’

Pet parents like Har Asees Vijai have gone on to train in animal communication from the US “to form a deeper connection with animals”.

However, it doesn’t give the output humans would desire all the time, the product manager warns. “If a cat doesn’t want to return home, he or she will not communicate,” she says.

An ‘animal communicator’ says 12 of her clients have enrolled in such courses, which can cost Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000 for six to eight hours of online training.

Vets speak

Veterinary doctors Metrolife spoke to were unaware of the use of ‘animal communication’ in Bengaluru.

“Animals like dogs, cats and horses are intelligent beings and they can communicate with non-verbal signs. But for that, humans must spend a lot of time with them and develop an emotional connection. It can’t happen remotely or if the animal hasn’t seen or known you,” says Dr Anirudh Ajjampur, chief veterinary surgeon, RMV Multi Speciality Veterinary Hospital.